Money-laundering watchdog to set first cryptocurrency rules by June-continued

October 19, 2018--The global watchdog for money laundering will set up its first rules on oversight of cryptocurrencies by June, a major step towards creating international standards for an asset currently subject to patchy regulations

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said on Friday jurisdictions worldwide will be required to license or regulate cryptocurrency exchanges and some firms providing encrypted wallets, to help stamp out the use of digital money for money laundering, terrorism financing or other crimes.

February 20, 2019--Quick read-Summary:
We launched the first edition of the quarterly BetaShares Global ETF Review-analysing the key trends & developments in the industry outside Australia.
The global ETF industry ended 2018 at US$4.8 trillion in assets under management (AuM), posting a robust annual growth rate of 20% since 2005.

February 19, 2019--More and more security holes are appearing in cryptocurrency and smart contract platforms, and some are fundamental to the way they were built.arly last month, the security team at Coinbase noticed something strange going on in Ethereum Classic, one of the cryptocurrencies people can buy and sell using Coinbase’s popular exchange platform.

February 19, 2019--Fee-based advice is not perfect, but most clients prefer it over a commission-based option
When there's a financial professional in the picture, investors mostly prefer paying fees based on assets under management.

Price Tag for Sustainable Infrastructure Spending in Developing Countries is 4.5% of GDP

February 19, 2019--A new World Bank report finds that investments of 4.5 percent of GDP will allow developing countries achieve their infrastructure-related Sustainable Development Goals and stay on track to limit climate change to up to 2°C. Beyond the Gap, also finds infrastructure investment compatible with full decarbonization need not cost more than more polluting alternatives.

February 19, 2019--Summary
Focus
This paper studies how securities lending affects over-the-counter market (OTC) liquidity.
Contribution
The financial crisis of 2007-09 kindled a wider interest in studies of liquidity in OTC financial markets, such as the corporate bond market. Buyers and sellers in these markets trade without centralised exchanges. The greater time and resources needed to complete trades can impede market liquidity-the ability to transact efficiently.

February 18, 2019--Last year, investors watched as the prices of various cryptoassets collapsed. The industry's most famous digital asset, Bitcoin, lost roughly three quarters of its value, as it slid from more than $16,000 a coin to less than $4,000.

February 18, 2019--Week in Review
It was another positive week for global stocks, as ongoing encouraging talk about progress in US-China trade talks remained the gift that keeps on giving. Last week it was Trump's announced willingness to extend the March 1 deadline that boosted sentiment.

February 18, 2019--Trading activity set a new record in January 2019 following the previous high set in December 2018. Average daily volume (ADV) for Tradeweb Markets of $624.5 billion (bn) across rates, credit, money markets and equities during the month was up 20.7 percent (%) year over year and average daily trades totaled 51,221.

February 17, 2019-- Chart of the week: index funds far outpaced active peers in a year defined by volatilityBlackRock and Vanguard together grabbed more than half of global net new inflows into long-term mutual funds in 2018, ratcheting up the pressure on the business models of smaller rivals.

ETFGI reports assets invested in global ETFs and ETPs industry rises back above 5 trillion US dollars in January 2019

February 14, 2019--ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm covering trends in the global ETF/ETP ecosystem, reported today that ETFs and ETPs listed Globally gathered net inflows of US$17.35 billion in January.

February 14, 2019--The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a report today on FinTech and market structure in financial services. The publication is part of the FSB's ongoing work to monitor FinTech market developments and their potential implications for financial stability.

The World Federation of Exchanges publishes 2018 Full Year Market Highlights

February 12, 2019--The World Federation of Exchanges ("WFE"), the global industry group for exchanges and CCPs, has today published its 2018 Full Year Market Highlights report.
Global stock markets had a turbulent year in 2018. Volatility made a come-back, breaking the spell of stable markets in 2017.

February 12, 2019--Most investors remain bearish on the economy despite the recent rally in equity markets, as shown by cash allocations being the most overweight since the global financial crisis, said Bank of America Merrill Lynch's monthly fund manager survey released Tuesday.

February 11, 2019--Asset owners and managers continue to "dig deeper" into how their portfolio companies are dealing with issues such as ESG, executive pay and activism, and away from compliance checklists, according to Morrow Sodali's Institutional Investor Survey released Monday.

Sovereign borrowing outlook for OECD countries, 2007 to 2019-Gross borrowings of OECD governments from the market are set to reach a new record level in 2019 by exceeding USD 11 trillion

February 8, 2019--This report examines net and gross sovereign borrowing in OECD countries from 2007 to 2019. It first looks at net and gross borrowing needs of OECD governments in the context of fiscal developments. It then considers recent trends in central government marketable debt in the OECD area and central government debt ratios for groups of selected OECD countries. Finally, the report examines funding strategies and growing issuance of debt with 30 or more years of maturities.

February 7, 2019--The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) today published a report that sets out good or sound practices to assist relevant storage infrastructures and their oversight bodies to identify and address issues that could influence the pricing of commodity derivatives and in turn affect market integrity and efficiency.

February 7, 2019--Would you be interested in investing in companies that produce nuclear weapons? Or companies that damage the environment, pollute our seas or violate human rights? Or companies that have been related to corruption scandals? If your answer is "no", unfortunately it is likely that you are investing in some way in these types of companies today.

OECD household income growth continues to lag GDP growth in third quarter of 2018February 7, 2019--Growth in real household income per capita, which provides a better picture of changes in households' economic well-being than real GDP growth per capita, slowed to 0.1 % in the OECD area in the third quarter of 2018, compared with 0.2% in the second quarter of 2018.

February 7, 2019--FTSE Russell is proud to announce the launch of the FTSE Market Based Allocation Index Series, a new set of benchmarks designed to represent the performance of multi-asset investment portfolios across objectively-defined risk tolerance profiles.

World Gold Council-Global gold-backed ETFs continued their strong growth in January

February 6, 2019--Holdings in global gold-backed ETFs and similar products rose in January by 72 tonnes(t) to 2,513t, equivalent to US$3.1bn in inflows, marking the fourth consecutive month of net inflows. Notably, total holdings have not been this high since March 2013, when the price of gold was 22% higher.

February 6, 2019--ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm covering trends in the global ETF/ETP ecosystem, reported today that assets invested in ETFs and ETPs listed globally amounted to US$4.82 trillion at the end of Q4 2018, following net?inflows of US$164.84 billion and market moves during Q4. The Global Hedge Fund industry saw assets fall to US$3.11trillion, with net outflows of US$22.5 billion during the quarter (source: hedge fund data HFR), according to ETFGI's Q4 2018 Global ETF and ETP industry landscape report a paid for subscription research service.

February 5, 2019--Gold is a highly liquid yet scarce asset, and it is no one's liability. It is bought as a luxury good as much as an investment. As such' gold can play four fundamental roles in a portfolio:

IMF Departmental Papers/Policy Papers-Debt Maturity and the Use of Short-Term Debt: Evidence form Sovereigns and Firms

January 5, 2019--The maturity structure of debt can have financial and real consequences. Short-term debt exposes borrowers to rollover risk (where the terms of financing are renegotiated to the detriment of the borrower) and is associated with financial crises.

February 4, 2019--Summary:
The key objective of this note is to support authorities in their decision making about the optimal organization of central securities depositories (CSDs) in their country. For the purpose of this note, a CSD is defined as an entity that provides securities accounts, a securities settlement system, and central safekeeping services to market participants, which can be banks and other financial institutions.

February 1, 2019--"ESG is not just a trend. It is going to dominate contemporary investors' decisions on financial strategies for the future to come", outlines Timo Pfeiffer, Head of Research at Solactive on Solactive's recent index development. The German index provider released a new line of ESG screened indices in the equity and fixed income space.

February 1, 2019-Securities regulators from growth and emerging markets are seeking public feedback on
proposed recommendations related to the development of sustainable finance in capital
markets and the role of securities regulators in this area.

January 31, 2019--ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm covering trends in the global ETF/ETP ecosystem, reported today that Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ETFs and ETPs listed globally gathered net inflows of US$679 million during December.

January 31, 2019--Key highlights
Central banks added 651.5t to official gold reserves in 2018, the second highest yearly total on record.
Net purchases jumped to their highest since the end of US dollar convertibility into gold in 1971, as a greater pool of central banks turned to gold as a diversifier.

Global ETF Industry Set to Double in Next Five Years; Canadian Industry to See Even Faster Growth

January 31, 2019--2018 brought the advent of the asset allocation ETF, an industry disruptor
ETFs continue to prove their value through times of global market volatility
BMO GAM offers 77 mandates and has a market share of 31 per cent in Canada
BMO Global Asset Management (BMO GAM) today released its annual ETF Outlook Report, which examines the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) industry and highlights the trends expected to drive the year ahead.

ETFGI reports assets invested in actively managed ETFs and ETPs listed globally attract inflows of US$628 million during December

January 30, 2019--ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm covering trends in the global ETF/ETP ecosystem, reported today that actively managed ETFs and ETPs listed globally gathered net inflows of US$628 million during December.

January 28, 2019--Key Highlights
This month's report briefly summarizes Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) trends globally in 2018. It uses data from the First Bridge ETF database that includes all global ETPs.
Key industry developments in 2018 included the US SEC's proposed rule 6c-11 to simplify ETF approvals; the issuance of a regulatory summary statement by the Central Bank of Ireland; the creation of the Communications Services GICS sector and the addition of Chinese 'A' Shares to MSCI's emerging market indices.

January 25, 2019--Passively managed funds (including conventional funds and ETFs) attracted $445.1 billion in 2018, while their actively managed counterparts handed back some $282.9 billion (ex-money market funds) for the same time period.

January 24, 2019--This paper presents a comprehensive database of country-specific commodity price indices for 182 economies covering the period 1962-2018. For each country, the change in the international price of up to 45 individual commodities is weighted using commodity-level trade data.

January 23, 2019--Policymakers and stakeholders can do more to promote the development of robust and efficient capital markets, according to a new report by the Committee on the Global Financial System (CGFS).